Execution of critical tasks based on the number of available processing entities

ABSTRACT

A determination is made as to whether a plurality of processing entities in a processor complex exceeds a predetermined threshold number. In response to determining that the plurality of processing entities exceeds the predetermined threshold number, a processing entity of the plurality of processing entities is reserved for exclusive execution of critical tasks. In response to determining that the plurality of processing entities does not exceed the predetermined threshold number, and in response to receiving a task that is a critical task for execution, a determination is made as to which processing entity of the plurality of processing entities has a least amount of processing remaining to be performed for currently scheduled tasks. In response to moving tasks queued on the determined processing entity to other processing entities, the critical task is scheduled for execution on the determined processing entity.

BACKGROUND

1. Field

Embodiments relate to the execution of critical tasks based on the number of available processing entities.

2. Background

A storage system may control access to storage for one or more host computational devices that may be coupled to the storage system over a network. A storage management application that executes in the storage system may manage a plurality of storage devices, such as disk drives, tape drives, flash drives, direct access storage devices (DASD), etc., that are coupled to the storage system. A host may send Input/Output (I/O) commands to the storage system and the storage system may execute the I/O commands to read data from the storage devices or write data to the storage devices.

The storage system may include two or more servers, where each server may be referred to as a node, a storage server, a processor complex, a Central Processor Complex (CPC), or a Central Electronics Complex (CEC). Each server may be included in a cluster. Each server may have a plurality of processor cores (also referred to as cores) and the servers may share the workload of the storage system. In a two server configuration of the storage system, either server can failover to the other if there is a failure or a planned downtime for one of the two servers. For example, a first server may failover to a second server, if there is a failure of the first server.

A computational device, such as a host or a server of a storage system, may include a plurality of processors and form a multiprocessing system. A computational device may have a processor complex that may have a single core or a plurality of cores, where a core may correspond to a central processing unit (CPU). For example, a dual-core processor complex has two central processing units, so that the dual-core processor complex may appear to the operating system as two CPUs.

A process (or task) is an instance of a computer program that is being executed. Depending on the operating system, a process may be made up of multiple threads of execution that execute instructions concurrently. Multiple threads may exist within the same process and share resources such as memory. A thread is what the CPU actually runs, whereas a process has the allocated memory for instructions and data. A process may need one or more threads because that is what is actually run by the CPU. Multiple threads corresponding to a process implies that the process gets more time slices on the same CPU or gets to run on more CPUs concurrently. A process needs at least one thread that the CPU executes. In a multi-core processor complex, a different process may use a different core at the same time to speed up the system.

U.S. Pat. No. 8,276,142 describes a method that includes scheduling a thread to run on a core of a multi-core processor. U.S. Pat. No. 8,250,347 describes asymmetric hardware support for a special class of threads. US Patent Publication 2005/0015768 describes a method for scheduling tasks. U.S. Pat. No. 6,212,544 describes a method for performing computer processing operations in a data processing system having a multithreaded processor and thread switch logic. U.S. Pat. No. 6,085,215 describes a method using a combination of processing threads, polling, and a use of interrupts to allocate the use of processing resources fairly among competing functions.

SUMMARY OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Provided are a method, a system, and a computer program product in which a determination is made as to whether a plurality of processing entities in a processor complex exceeds a predetermined threshold number. In response to determining that the plurality of processing entities exceeds the predetermined threshold number, a processing entity of the plurality of processing entities is reserved for exclusive execution of critical tasks. In response to determining that the plurality of processing entities does not exceed the predetermined threshold number, and in response to receiving a task that is a critical task for execution, a determination is made as to which processing entity of the plurality of processing entities has a least amount of processing remaining to be performed for currently scheduled tasks. In response to moving tasks queued on the determined processing entity to other processing entities, the critical task is scheduled for execution on the determined processing entity. As a result, the processing of critical tasks is speeded up in a computing environment.

In certain embodiments, it is preferable to prioritize execution of critical tasks over non-critical tasks, wherein in response to the plurality of processing entities exceeding the predetermined threshold number, the processing entity that is reserved is used for the execution of critical tasks, and wherein in response to the plurality of processing entities not exceeding the predetermined threshold number, the determined processing entity is used for the execution of critical tasks. As a result, processing entities are effectively utilized for processing critical tasks, based on the number of available processing entities.

In further embodiments, the task is a first task, and the critical task is a first critical task, wherein in response to reserving the processing entity of the plurality of processing entities for exclusive execution of critical tasks, a scheduler receives a second task for execution in the plurality of processing entities, and wherein in response to determining that that the second task that is received by the scheduler is a second critical task, the second critical task is scheduled for execution in the processing entity that is reserved. As a result of using the reserved processing entity, the execution of a critical task is prioritized over the execution of non-critical tasks.

In additional embodiments, in response to determining that the second task that is received is a non-critical task, the second task is scheduled for execution in a non-reserved processing entity of the plurality of processing entities. As a result, critical tasks are processed by a reserved processing entity and non-critical tasks are processed by non-reserved processing entities.

In yet additional embodiments, the plurality of processing entities comprise a plurality of cores, wherein the reserved processing entity has a clean L1 cache and a clean L2 cache at a time at which the second critical task is scheduled for execution in the reserved processing entity, and wherein the second critical task executes faster by using the clean L1 cache and the clean L2 cache of the reserved processing entity, in comparison to scheduling the second critical task on any non-reserved processing entity of the plurality of processing entities, wherein in non-reserved processing entities the L1 and L2 cache are shared among a plurality of tasks. As a result, critical tasks may execute faster in comparison to non-critical tasks.

In further embodiments, in response to determining that the plurality of processing entities does not exceed the predetermined threshold number, and in response to determining that the task is a non-critical task, the task is scheduled for execution in any of the plurality of processing entities. In response to moving tasks queued on the determined processing entity to other processing entities, in addition to scheduling the critical task for execution on the determined processing entity, currently scheduled tasks on the determined processing entity are also completed and scheduling of any new tasks on the determined processing entity is avoided. In response to completion of the critical task in the determined processing entity, a scheduler is returned to a mode in which the scheduler schedules non-critical tasks for execution on the determined processing entity. As a result, critical tasks are executed faster, in comparison to non-critical tasks.

In yet further embodiments, the plurality of processing entities comprise a plurality of cores, wherein the determined processing entity has a clean L1 cache and a clean L2 cache at some point in time at which the critical task executes in the determined processing entity, wherein the critical task executes faster by using the clean L1 cache and the clean L2 cache of the determined processing entity, in comparison to scheduling the critical task on any other processing entity of the plurality of processing entities, wherein in the other processing entities the L1 cache and the L2 cache are shared among a plurality of tasks. As a result, critical tasks may have exclusive use of the L1 cache and L2 cache for at least some period of time.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Referring now to the drawings in which like reference numbers represent corresponding parts throughout:

FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of a computing environment comprising a storage system comprising a first server and a second server that both comprise multi-core processor complexes in which a task scheduler is implemented for scheduling tasks on one or more cores, in accordance with certain embodiments;

FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of a server that comprises a processor complex, in accordance with certain embodiments

FIG. 3 illustrates a block diagram that shows a normal processing mode for tasks in a core, in accordance with certain embodiments;

FIG. 4 illustrates a flowchart that shows whether to use a reserved core or use a core with a least amount of processing remaining to be performed for execution of a critical task;

FIG. 5 illustrates a block diagram that shows selection of a core with a least amount of processing remaining, for scheduling a critical task, in accordance with certain embodiments.

FIG. 6 illustrates a block diagram that shows the processing of a critical task in a reserved core, in accordance with certain embodiments;

FIG. 7 illustrates a flowchart that shows operations to process critical tasks based on the number of processing entities in a processor complex, in accordance with certain embodiments;

FIG. 8 illustrates a block diagram of a cloud computing environment, in accordance with certain embodiments;

FIG. 9 illustrates a block diagram of further details of the cloud computing environment of FIG. 8, in accordance with certain embodiments; and

FIG. 10 illustrates a block diagram of a computational system that shows certain elements that may be included in the storage system, servers, and/or the host(s), as described in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 in accordance with certain embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following description, reference is made to the accompanying drawings which form a part hereof and which illustrate several embodiments. It is understood that other embodiments may be utilized and structural and operational changes may be made.

A computational device, such has a server, may comprise a CPU complex (processor complex) that has many chips. A chip may have a plurality of cores that may simultaneously execute a plurality of threads. All the threads running in a core may share the same L1 and L2 cache. Additionally, the threads that run on the cores in a chip share an L3 cache (This may be somewhat different in some CPU architectures where the L3 cache is also shared within the same core instead of the chip). If data is not found in the L1 cache, then the date is retrieved from the L2 cache, and if the data is not found in the L3 cache then the data is retrieved from the L3 cache.

A server in a storage system may have certain tasks that are critical for ensuring a high performance storage system. When such critical tasks are running, they may need cache hits (to the L1, L2, and L3 cache) to be efficient. If there are other tasks running in the same core or same chip, the other tasks may share the L1, L2, and L3 cache and the critical task that needs to be efficient and have good L1, L2, and L3 cache hits may execute relatively slowly.

In certain embodiments, to speed up the execution of such critical tasks, a determination is made as to whether the number of cores in a multi-core processing system exceeds a threshold number of cores. If there are more than the threshold number of cores (e.g., if there are at least 24 cores) then a single core is exclusively reserved for execution of critical tasks as there are more than an adequate number of cores to process the non-critical tasks. However, if the number of cores does not exceed the threshold number of cores, then a core that has the least amount of processing remaining to be performed is used for executing the critical task, as there are an inadequate number of cores to process the non-critical tasks without impacting system performance.

When a system has few cores, then it is inefficient to reserve a single core exclusively for the execution of critical tasks and a determination is made as to which of the few cores of the system has the least amount of processing remaining to be performed and the critical task is scheduled for execution on that core. However, in a system with many cores, a core is reserved for exclusive use by critical tasks and the overhead of attempting to determine which core has the least amount of processing remaining to be performed is avoided.

In certain embodiments, by scheduling a critical task on a processing entity (e.g., a core and/or a chip) that is least lightly loaded, or by scheduling the critical task in an exclusively reserved processing entity, preferential use of the cache is provided to the critical task to allow the critical task to execute faster in comparison to non-critical tasks. Hit ratios on a cache is improved for the critical task, in comparison to hit ratios on caches for non-critical tasks that share the caches with other non-critical tasks.

Exemplary Embodiments

FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of a computing environment 100 comprising a storage system 102 comprising a first server 104 and a second server 106, where the storage system 102 communicates with a plurality of hosts 108, 110 over a network and controls access to storage included in one or more storage devices 122, 124, in accordance with certain embodiments.

The storage system 102, the servers 104, 106 and the hosts 108, 110 may comprise any suitable computational device including those presently known in the art, such as, a personal computer, a workstation, a server, a mainframe, a hand held computer, a palm top computer, a telephony device, a network appliance, a blade computer, a processing device, a controller, etc. The plurality of servers 104, 106 may provide redundancy because if one server undergoes a failure from which recovery is not possible, an alternate server may perform the functions of the server that failed. Each of the plurality of servers 104, 106 may be referred to as a processor complex, a central electronics complex (CEC), or a central processing unit (CPU) complex and may include one or more processors and/or processor cores. The storage system 102 may also be referred to as a dual-server storage system.

The storage system 102, the servers 104, 106 and the hosts 108, 110 may be elements in any suitable network, such as, a storage area network, a wide area network, the Internet, an intranet. In certain embodiments, storage system 102, the servers 104, 106 and the hosts 108, 110 may be elements in a cloud computing environment.

It should be noted that the storage system 102 may be configured and accessed in many different ways. For example, virtualization may be performed to access the hardware elements of the storage system 102. Additionally, in certain embodiments, the storage system 102 may have a single server or more than two servers.

In certain embodiments, each of the servers 104, 106 may have corresponding applications and data structures implemented in each, and the applications and data structures implemented in the first server 104 are shown. The second server 106 may have similar applications and data structures, and may have similar hardware, firmware, and/or software.

The first server 104 includes a plurality of processing entities 126, 128, where in certain embodiments each processing entity is a central processing unit (CPU) such as a core. In certain embodiments, each processing entity 126, 128 is the lowest granularity of a processor that is configurable to execute a task.

Each server 104 may also include a dispatcher 130 and a task scheduler 132. The dispatcher 130 dispatches one or more tasks 134, 136 to the task scheduler 132 where the task scheduler 132 schedules one or more threads of a task for execution on a processing entity 126, 128. Each task 134, 136 may be a critical or a non-critical task as shown via reference numerals 138, 140. A critical task is a task that is desirable to execute ahead of a non-critical task in a fast manner. For example, in the server 104 when a device adapter indicates completion of stage and destage requests with respect to a cache, the completions may be critical tasks that may need to be processed in a fast manner over other tasks. The critical tasks may be referred to as dedicated tasks and are dispatched by the task scheduler 132 for preferential execution on cores while at the same time an attempt is made to provide exclusive access to the cache on the cores to the dedicated tasks.

FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of the server 104 that comprises a processor complex or a central electronics complex (CEC), in accordance with certain embodiments. The server 104 may be comprised of a plurality of chips 202, 204 where each chip is comprised of a plurality of cores 206, 208 as shown in FIG. 2. Each core may have a L1 cache and a L2 cache (shown via reference numerals 210, 212, 214, 216) that are shared by threads that execute in the core, and each chip 202 may have an L3 cache 218 that is shared among threads that execute in one or more cores 206, 208 of the chip 202.

In certain embodiments, each core 206, 208 corresponds to a processing entity 126, 128 shown in FIG. 1. In other embodiments, each chip 202, 204 corresponds to a processing entity 126, 128 shown in FIG. 1. Other arrangements of L1 cache, L2 cache, and L3 cache may be found in the server 104.

FIG. 3 illustrates a block diagram 300 that shows normal processing mode of tasks in a core 301, in accordance with certain embodiments. Threads corresponding to a plurality of tasks 302, 304 may be assigned for execution in the core 301. Some of these threads may be currently scheduled threads 306 and some of these threads may be queued threads 308.

FIG. 4 illustrates a flowchart 400 that shows whether to use a reserved core or use a core with a least amount of processing remaining to be performed, for execution of a critical task. The operations shown in FIG. 4 may be performed in the server 104, 106 or the storage system 102.

Control starts at block 402, in which a determination is made as to whether the number of cores in a multi-core processing system exceeds a predetermined threshold number of cores. If there are more (“Yes” branch 402) than the predetermined threshold number of cores (e.g., if there are at least 24 cores) then a single core is exclusively reserved for execution of critical tasks as there are more than an adequate number of cores to process the non-critical tasks (as shown via reference numeral 404).

However, if the number of cores does not exceed (“No” branch 406) the predetermined threshold number of cores, then a core that has the least amount of processing remaining to be performed is used for executing the critical task, as there are an inadequate number of cores to process the non-critical tasks without impacting system performance (as shown via reference numeral 408).

For example, in a system with 2 cores, it is inefficient to reserve a single core exclusively for the execution of critical tasks and a determination is made as to which of the two cores has the least amount of processing remaining to be performed and the critical task is allocated to that core. However, in a system with a 100 cores, a core is reserved for exclusive use by critical tasks and the overhead of attempting to determine which core has the least amount of processing remaining to be performed is avoided.

FIG. 5 illustrates a block diagram 500 that shows selection of a core with a least amount of processing remaining, for scheduling a critical task, and operations on the selected core, in accordance with certain embodiments.

In certain embodiments, core 501 may be the core with a least amount of processing remaining to be performed among a plurality of cores, and may be the core that is selected for scheduling a critical task.

Core 501 may have one or more threads 502 of tasks that are currently scheduled for execution in the core 501. There may also be one or more threads 504 of tasks that are queued for execution in the core 501. Before threads corresponding to a critical task are executed on the core 501, the queued threads 504 on the core 501 are moved (shown via reference numeral 506) to other cores. Subsequently, the threads corresponding to the critical task 508 execute in the core 501 while the currently scheduled threads 502 are allowed to complete, and after the currently scheduled threads 502 have completed the critical task has exclusive access to the L1, L2 cache of the core 501. The threads of the currently scheduled tasks 502 are allowed to complete because moving the threads of the currently scheduled threads may take a significant amount of time in comparison to the quick movement of the threads of the queued tasks.

FIG. 6 illustrates a block diagram 600 that shows the processing of a critical task in a reserved core, in accordance with certain embodiments.

In an exemplary processor complex 602, such as a server, there may be a plurality of cores 604, 606, 608. One of the plurality of cores 604, 606, 608 is a reserved core 604 that executes threads 610 of a critical task. In the reserved core 604, the threads 610 of the critical task have exclusive access to the L1 cache and the L2 cache.

The threads 612, 614 of non-critical tasks are executed in non-reserved cores 606, 608. The threads 612, 614 of the non-critical tasks share access to the L1 cache and the L2 cache in the non-reserved cores 606, 608.

In certain embodiments, there are a plurality of non-reserved cores but only a single reserved core (as shown via reference numerals 616, 618). The single reserved core 604 may comprise only a small percentage (e.g., less than 5%) of the plurality of cores 604, 606, 608 of the processor complex 602. For example, if there is a total of 24 cores, then 23 of the cores may be non-reserved cores and one of the cores may be a reserved core. The number of cores may of course vary in different embodiments. Under such configurations, the critical tasks may execute faster without causing non-reserved tasks to execute slower, as the vast majority of cores are still assigned to execute threads of non-critical tasks. In certain embodiments, the number of the plurality of cores are sufficiently high such that reserving a single core of the plurality of cores as the reserved core for the execution of the critical tasks does not affect the processing speed for execution of non-critical tasks.

FIG. 7 illustrates a flowchart 700 that shows operations to process critical tasks based on the number of processing entities in a processor complex, in accordance with certain embodiments. The operations shown in FIG. 7 may be performed by the server 104, 106 or the storage system 102.

Control starts at block 702 in which a determination is made as to whether a plurality of processing entities (e.g. cores) 126, 128 in a processor complex 104 exceeds a predetermined threshold number. In response to determining that the plurality of processing entities exceeds the predetermined threshold number (“Yes” branch 703), a processing entity of the plurality of processing entities is reserved for exclusive execution of critical tasks (at block 704).

From block 704 control proceeds to block 706 in which a scheduler 132 receives a task for executing in the plurality of processing entities 126, 128. A determination is made (at block 708) whether the task is a critical task. In response to determining that that the task that is received by the scheduler 132 is a critical task (Yes” branch 710), the critical task is scheduled for execution in the processing entity that is reserved (at block 712).

In response to determining (at block 708) that the second task that is received is not a critical task (“No” branch 714), the task is scheduled for execution in a non-reserved processing entity of the plurality of processing entities 126, 128 (at block 716).

If at block 702, a determination is made that the plurality of processing entities 126, 128 in the processor complex 104 does not exceed the predetermined threshold number (“No” branch 718), then control proceeds to block 720. At block 720, the scheduler 132 receives a task for execution in the plurality of processing entities 126, 128, and then determines (at block 722) whether the task is a critical task.

In response to determining that the task is a critical task (“Yes” branch 724), control proceeds to block 726 in which a determination is made as to which processing entity of the plurality of processing entities 126, 128 has a least amount of processing remaining to be performed for currently scheduled tasks. Tasks queued on the determined processing entity are moved (at block 728) to other processing entities.

In response to moving tasks queued on the determined processing entity to other processing entities, the critical task is scheduled (at block 730) for execution on the determined processing entity. At block 730, in addition to scheduling the critical task for execution on the determined processing entity, currently scheduled tasks on the determined processing entity are also completed and scheduling of any new tasks on the determined processing entity is avoided. From block 730, control proceeds to block 732, in which, in response to completion of the critical task in the determined processing entity, the scheduler 132 is returned (at block 732) to a mode in which the scheduler schedules non-critical tasks for execution on the determined processing entity.

In response to determining (at block 722) that the task is a non-critical task (“No” branch 734), the task is scheduled (at block 736) for execution in any of the plurality of processing entities 126, 128.

In certain embodiments, the plurality of processing entities comprise a plurality of cores, wherein the reserved processing entity has a clean L1 cache and a clean L2 cache at a time at which the critical task is scheduled for execution in the reserved processing entity, and wherein the critical task executes faster by using the clean L1 cache and the clean L2 cache of the reserved processing entity, in comparison to scheduling the critical task on any non-reserved processing entity of the plurality of processing entities. In non-reserved processing entities the L1 and L2 cache are shared among a plurality of tasks.

In certain other embodiments, the plurality of processing entities comprise a plurality of cores, wherein the determined processing entity has a clean L1 cache and a clean L2 cache at some point in time at which the critical task executes in the determined processing entity, wherein the critical task executes faster by using the clean L1 cache and the clean L2 cache of the determined processing entity, in comparison to scheduling the critical task on any other processing entity of the plurality of processing entities, wherein in the other processing entities the L1 cache and the L2 cache are shared among a plurality of tasks.

Therefore, FIGS. 1-7 illustrate certain embodiments in which a critical task is scheduled either on a previously reserved processing entity or on a processing entity that has the least amount of processing remaining to be performed, based on whether the number of processing entities in a processor complex exceeds a predetermined threshold. If the number of processing entities exceed the predetermined number, the overhead of determining the processing entity that has the least amount of processing remaining to be performed is avoided without affecting the processing of the non-critical tasks as the number of processing units available for processing the non-critical tasks are large enough in number. However, if the number of processing entities does not exceed the predetermined number then it is preferable to have the overhead of determining the processing entity that has the least amount of processing, because permanently reserving a processing entity for exclusive access by critical tasks may impact the processing of non-critical tasks with the limited number of processing units that are available.

Cloud Computing Environment

Cloud computing is a model for enabling convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications, and services) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction.

Referring now to FIG. 8, an illustrative cloud computing environment 50 is depicted. As shown, cloud computing environment 50 comprises one or more cloud computing nodes 10 with which local computing devices used by cloud consumers, such as, for example, personal digital assistant (PDA) or cellular telephone 54A, desktop computer 54B, laptop computer 54C, and/or automobile computer system 54N may communicate. Nodes 10 may communicate with one another. They may be grouped (not shown) physically or virtually, in one or more networks, such as Private, Community, Public, or Hybrid clouds as described hereinabove, or a combination thereof. This allows cloud computing environment 50 to offer infrastructure, platforms and/or software as services for which a cloud consumer does not need to maintain resources on a local computing device. It is understood that the types of computing devices 54A-N shown in FIG. 8 are intended to be illustrative only and that computing nodes 10 and cloud computing environment 50 can communicate with any type of computerized device over any type of network and/or network addressable connection (e.g., using a web browser).

Referring now to FIG. 9, a set of functional abstraction layers provided by cloud computing environment 50 (FIG. 8) is shown. It should be understood in advance that the components, layers, and functions shown in FIG. 9 are intended to be illustrative only and embodiments of the invention are not limited thereto.

Hardware and software layer 60 includes hardware and software components. Examples of hardware components include mainframes, in one example IBM zSeries* systems; RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computer) architecture based servers, in one example IBM pSeries* systems; IBM xSeries* systems; IBM BladeCenter* systems; storage devices; networks and networking components. Examples of software components include network application server software, in one example IBM WebSphere* application server software; and database software, in one example IBM DB2* database software. *IBM, zSeries, pSeries, xSeries, BladeCenter, WebSphere, and DB2 are trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation registered in many jurisdictions worldwide.

Virtualization layer 62 provides an abstraction layer from which the following examples of virtual entities may be provided: virtual servers; virtual storage; virtual networks, including virtual private networks; virtual applications and operating systems; and virtual clients.

In one example, management layer 64 may provide the functions described below. Resource provisioning provides dynamic procurement of computing resources and other resources that are utilized to perform tasks within the cloud computing environment. Metering and Pricing provide cost tracking as resources are utilized within the cloud computing environment, and billing or invoicing for consumption of these resources. In one example, these resources may comprise application software licenses. Security provides identity verification for cloud consumers and tasks, as well as protection for data and other resources. User portal provides access to the cloud computing environment for consumers and system administrators. Service level management provides cloud computing resource allocation and management such that required service levels are met. Service Level Agreement (SLA) planning and fulfillment provide pre-arrangement for, and procurement of, cloud computing resources for which a future requirement is anticipated in accordance with an SLA.

Workloads layer 66 provides examples of functionality for which the cloud computing environment may be utilized. Examples of workloads and functions which may be provided from this layer include: mapping and navigation; software development and lifecycle management; virtual classroom education delivery; data analytics processing; transaction processing; and the task scheduling 68 as shown in FIGS. 1-7.

Additional Embodiment Details

The described operations may be implemented as a method, apparatus or computer program product using standard programming and/or engineering techniques to produce software, firmware, hardware, or any combination thereof. Accordingly, aspects of the embodiments may take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment (including firmware, resident software, micro-code, etc.) or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects that may all generally be referred to herein as a “circuit,” “module” or “system.” Furthermore, aspects of the embodiments may take the form of a computer program product. The computer program product may include a computer readable storage medium (or media) having computer readable program instructions thereon for causing a processor to carry out aspects of the present embodiments.

The computer readable storage medium can be a tangible device that can retain and store instructions for use by an instruction execution device. The computer readable storage medium may be, for example, but is not limited to, an electronic storage device, a magnetic storage device, an optical storage device, an electromagnetic storage device, a semiconductor storage device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. A non-exhaustive list of more specific examples of the computer readable storage medium includes the following: a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory), a static random access memory (SRAM), a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), a digital versatile disk (DVD), a memory stick, a floppy disk, a mechanically encoded device such as punch-cards or raised structures in a groove having instructions recorded thereon, and any suitable combination of the foregoing. A computer readable storage medium, as used herein, is not to be construed as being transitory signals per se, such as radio waves or other freely propagating electromagnetic waves, electromagnetic waves propagating through a waveguide or other transmission media (e.g., light pulses passing through a fiber-optic cable), or electrical signals transmitted through a wire.

Computer readable program instructions described herein can be downloaded to respective computing/processing devices from a computer readable storage medium or to an external computer or external storage device via a network, for example, the Internet, a local area network, a wide area network and/or a wireless network. The network may comprise copper transmission cables, optical transmission fibers, wireless transmission, routers, firewalls, switches, gateway computers and/or edge servers. A network adapter card or network interface in each computing/processing device receives computer readable program instructions from the network and forwards the computer readable program instructions for storage in a computer readable storage medium within the respective computing/processing device.

Computer readable program instructions for carrying out operations of the present embodiments may be assembler instructions, instruction-set-architecture (ISA) instructions, machine instructions, machine dependent instructions, microcode, firmware instructions, state-setting data, or either source code or object code written in any combination of one or more programming languages, including an object oriented programming language such as Smalltalk, C++ or the like, and conventional procedural programming languages, such as the “C” programming language or similar programming languages. The computer readable program instructions may execute entirely on the user's computer, partly on the user's computer, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the user's computer and partly on a remote computer or entirely on the remote computer or server. In the latter scenario, the remote computer may be connected to the user's computer through any type of network, including a local area network (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN), or the connection may be made to an external computer (for example, through the Internet using an Internet Service Provider). In some embodiments, electronic circuitry including, for example, programmable logic circuitry, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGA), or programmable logic arrays (PLA) may execute the computer readable program instructions by utilizing state information of the computer readable program instructions to personalize the electronic circuitry, in order to perform aspects of the present embodiments.

Aspects of the present embodiments are described herein with reference to flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus (systems), and computer program products according to embodiments of the invention. It will be understood that each block of the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented by computer readable program instructions.

These computer readable program instructions may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, create means for implementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks. These computer readable program instructions may also be stored in a computer readable storage medium that can direct a computer, a programmable data processing apparatus, and/or other devices to function in a particular manner, such that the computer readable storage medium having instructions stored therein comprises an article of manufacture including instructions which implement aspects of the function/act specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.

The computer readable program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer, other programmable data processing apparatus, or other device to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer, other programmable apparatus or other device to produce a computer implemented process, such that the instructions which execute on the computer, other programmable apparatus, or other device implement the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.

The flowchart and block diagrams in the figures illustrate the architecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementations of systems, methods, and computer program products according to various embodiments of the present invention. In this regard, each block in the flowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portion of instructions, which comprises one or more executable instructions for implementing the specified logical function(s). In some alternative implementations, the functions noted in the block may occur out of the order noted in the figures. For example, two blocks shown in succession may, in fact, be executed substantially concurrently, or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon the functionality involved. It will also be noted that each block of the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, can be implemented by special purpose hardware-based systems that perform the specified functions or acts or carry out combinations of special purpose hardware and computer instruction.

FIG. 10 illustrates a block diagram that shows certain elements that may be included in the storage system 102, the first server 104, the second server 106, the hosts 108, 110 or other computational devices in accordance with certain embodiments. The system 1000 may include a circuitry 1002 that may in certain embodiments include at least a processor 1004. The system 1000 may also include a memory 1006 (e.g., a volatile memory device), and storage 1008. The storage 1008 may include a non-volatile memory device (e.g., EEPROM, ROM, PROM, flash, firmware, programmable logic, etc.), magnetic disk drive, optical disk drive, tape drive, etc. The storage 1008 may comprise an internal storage device, an attached storage device and/or a network accessible storage device. The system 1000 may include a program logic 1010 including code 1012 that may be loaded into the memory 1006 and executed by the processor 1004 or circuitry 1002. In certain embodiments, the program logic 1010 including code 1012 may be stored in the storage 1008. In certain other embodiments, the program logic 1010 may be implemented in the circuitry 1002. One or more of the components in the system 1000 may communicate via a bus or via other coupling or connection 1014. Therefore, while FIG. 10 shows the program logic 1010 separately from the other elements, the program logic 1010 may be implemented in the memory 1006 and/or the circuitry 1002.

Certain embodiments may be directed to a method for deploying computing instruction by a person or automated processing integrating computer-readable code into a computing system, wherein the code in combination with the computing system is enabled to perform the operations of the described embodiments.

The terms “an embodiment”, “embodiment”, “embodiments”, “the embodiment”, “the embodiments”, “one or more embodiments”, “some embodiments”, and “one embodiment” mean “one or more (but not all) embodiments of the present invention(s)” unless expressly specified otherwise.

The terms “including”, “comprising”, “having” and variations thereof mean “including but not limited to”, unless expressly specified otherwise.

The enumerated listing of items does not imply that any or all of the items are mutually exclusive, unless expressly specified otherwise.

The terms “a”, “an” and “the” mean “one or more”, unless expressly specified otherwise.

Devices that are in communication with each other need not be in continuous communication with each other, unless expressly specified otherwise. In addition, devices that are in communication with each other may communicate directly or indirectly through one or more intermediaries.

A description of an embodiment with several components in communication with each other does not imply that all such components are required. On the contrary a variety of optional components are described to illustrate the wide variety of possible embodiments of the present invention.

Further, although process steps, method steps, algorithms or the like may be described in a sequential order, such processes, methods and algorithms may be configured to work in alternate orders. In other words, any sequence or order of steps that may be described does not necessarily indicate a requirement that the steps be performed in that order. The steps of processes described herein may be performed in any order practical. Further, some steps may be performed simultaneously.

When a single device or article is described herein, it will be readily apparent that more than one device/article (whether or not they cooperate) may be used in place of a single device/article. Similarly, where more than one device or article is described herein (whether or not they cooperate), it will be readily apparent that a single device/article may be used in place of the more than one device or article or a different number of devices/articles may be used instead of the shown number of devices or programs. The functionality and/or the features of a device may be alternatively embodied by one or more other devices which are not explicitly described as having such functionality/features. Thus, other embodiments of the present invention need not include the device itself.

At least certain operations that may have been illustrated in the figures show certain events occurring in a certain order. In alternative embodiments, certain operations may be performed in a different order, modified or removed. Moreover, steps may be added to the above described logic and still conform to the described embodiments. Further, operations described herein may occur sequentially or certain operations may be processed in parallel. Yet further, operations may be performed by a single processing unit or by distributed processing units.

The foregoing description of various embodiments of the invention has been presented for the purposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise form disclosed. Many modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teaching. It is intended that the scope of the invention be limited not by this detailed description, but rather by the claims appended hereto. The above specification, examples and data provide a complete description of the manufacture and use of the composition of the invention. Since many embodiments of the invention can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, the invention resides in the claims hereinafter appended. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising, determining whether a plurality of processing entities in a processor complex exceeds a predetermined threshold number; in response to determining that the plurality of processing entities exceeds the predetermined threshold number, reserving a processing entity of the plurality of processing entities for exclusive execution of critical tasks; and in response to determining that the plurality of processing entities does not exceed the predetermined threshold number, performing: in response to receiving a task that is a critical task for execution, determining which processing entity of the plurality of processing entities has a least amount of processing remaining to be performed for currently scheduled tasks; and in response to moving tasks queued on the determined processing entity to other processing entities, scheduling the critical task for execution on the determined processing entity.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein it is preferable to prioritize execution of critical tasks over non-critical tasks, wherein in response to the plurality of processing entities exceeding the predetermined threshold number, the processing entity that is reserved is used for the execution of critical tasks, and wherein in response to the plurality of processing entities not exceeding the predetermined threshold number, the determined processing entity is used for the execution of critical tasks.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the task is a first task, and the critical task is a first critical task, the method further comprising: in response to reserving the processing entity of the plurality of processing entities for exclusive execution of critical tasks, receiving by a scheduler a second task for executing in the plurality of processing entities; and in response to determining that the second task that is received by the scheduler is a second critical task, scheduling the second critical task for execution in the processing entity that is reserved.
 4. The method of claim 3, the method further comprising: in response to determining that the second task that is received is a non-critical task, scheduling the second task for execution in a non-reserved processing entity of the plurality of processing entities.
 5. The method of claim 4, wherein the plurality of processing entities comprise a plurality of cores, wherein the reserved processing entity has a clean L1 cache and a clean L2 cache at a time at which the second critical task is scheduled for execution in the reserved processing entity, and wherein the second critical task executes faster by using the clean L1 cache and the clean L2 cache of the reserved processing entity, in comparison to scheduling the second critical task on any non-reserved processing entity of the plurality of processing entities, wherein in non-reserved processing entities the L1 and L2 cache are shared among a plurality of tasks.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein in response to determining that the plurality of processing entities does not exceed the predetermined threshold number, further performing: in response to determining that the task is a non-critical task, scheduling the task for execution in any of the plurality of processing entities; in response to moving tasks queued on the determined processing entity to other processing entities, in addition to scheduling the critical task for execution on the determined processing entity, also completing currently scheduled tasks on the determined processing entity and avoiding scheduling any new tasks on the determined processing entity; and in response to completion of the critical task in the determined processing entity, returning a scheduler to a mode in which the scheduler schedules non-critical tasks for execution on the determined processing entity.
 7. The method of claim 6, wherein the plurality of processing entities comprise a plurality of cores, and wherein the determined processing entity has a clean L1 cache and a clean L2 cache at some point in time at which the critical task executes in the determined processing entity, wherein the critical task executes faster by using the clean L1 cache and the clean L2 cache of the determined processing entity, in comparison to scheduling the critical task on any other processing entity of the plurality of processing entities, wherein in the other processing entities the L1 cache and the L2 cache are shared among a plurality of tasks.
 8. A system, comprising: a memory; and a processor coupled to the memory, wherein the processor performs operations, the operations comprising: determining whether a plurality of processing entities exceeds a predetermined threshold number; in response to determining that the plurality of processing entities exceeds the predetermined threshold number, reserving a processing entity of the plurality of processing entities for exclusive execution of critical tasks; and in response to determining that the plurality of processing entities does not exceed the predetermined threshold number, performing: in response to receiving a task that is a critical task for execution, determining which processing entity of the plurality of processing entities has a least amount of processing remaining to be performed for currently scheduled tasks; and in response to moving tasks queued on the determined processing entity to other processing entities, scheduling the critical task for execution on the determined processing entity.
 9. The system of claim 8, wherein it is preferable to prioritize execution of critical tasks over non-critical tasks, wherein in response to the plurality of processing entities exceeding the predetermined threshold number, the processing entity that is reserved is used for the execution of critical tasks, and wherein in response to the plurality of processing entities not exceeding the predetermined threshold number, the determined processing entity is used for the execution of critical tasks.
 10. The system of claim 8, wherein the task is a first task, and the critical task is a first critical task, the operations further comprising: in response to reserving the processing entity of the plurality of processing entities for exclusive execution of critical tasks, receiving by a scheduler a second task for executing in the plurality of processing entities; and in response to determining that the second task that is received by the scheduler is a second critical task, scheduling the second critical task for execution in the processing entity that is reserved.
 11. The system of claim 10, the operations further comprising: in response to determining that the second task that is received is a non-critical task, scheduling the second task for execution in a non-reserved processing entity of the plurality of processing entities.
 12. The system of claim 11, wherein the plurality of processing entities comprise a plurality of cores, wherein the reserved processing entity has a clean L1 cache and a clean L2 cache at a time at which the second critical task is scheduled for execution in the reserved processing entity, and wherein the second critical task executes faster by using the clean L1 cache and the clean L2 cache of the reserved processing entity, in comparison to scheduling the second critical task on any non-reserved processing entity of the plurality of processing entities, wherein in non-reserved processing entities the L1 and L2 cache are shared among a plurality of tasks.
 13. The system of claim 8, wherein in response to determining that the plurality of processing entities does not exceed the predetermined threshold number, further performing: in response to determining that the task is a non-critical task, scheduling the task for execution in any of the plurality of processing entities; in response to moving tasks queued on the determined processing entity to other processing entities, in addition to scheduling the critical task for execution on the determined processing entity, also completing currently scheduled tasks on the determined processing entity and avoiding scheduling any new tasks on the determined processing entity; and in response to completion of the critical task in the determined processing entity, returning a scheduler to a mode in which the scheduler schedules non-critical tasks for execution on the determined processing entity.
 14. The system of claim 13, wherein the plurality of processing entities comprise a plurality of cores, and wherein the determined processing entity has a clean L1 cache and a clean L2 cache at some point in time at which the critical task executes in the determined processing entity, wherein the critical task executes faster by using the clean L1 cache and the clean L2 cache of the determined processing entity, in comparison to scheduling the critical task on any other processing entity of the plurality of processing entities, wherein in the other processing entities the L1 cache and the L2 cache are shared among a plurality of tasks.
 15. A computer program product, the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code embodied therewith, the computer readable program code configured to perform operations, the operations comprising: determining whether a plurality of processing entities in a processor complex exceeds a predetermined threshold number; in response to determining that the plurality of processing entities exceeds the predetermined threshold number, reserving a processing entity of the plurality of processing entities for exclusive execution of critical tasks; and in response to determining that the plurality of processing entities does not exceed the predetermined threshold number, performing: in response to receiving a task that is a critical task for execution, determining which processing entity of the plurality of processing entities has a least amount of processing remaining to be performed for currently scheduled tasks; and in response to moving tasks queued on the determined processing entity to other processing entities, scheduling the critical task for execution on the determined processing entity.
 16. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein it is preferable to prioritize execution of critical tasks over non-critical tasks, wherein in response to the plurality of processing entities exceeding the predetermined threshold number, the processing entity that is reserved is used for the execution of critical tasks, and wherein in response to the plurality of processing entities not exceeding the predetermined threshold number, the determined processing entity is used for the execution of critical tasks.
 17. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the task is a first task, and the critical task is a first critical task, the operations further comprising: in response to reserving the processing entity of the plurality of processing entities for exclusive execution of critical tasks, receiving by a scheduler a second task for executing in the plurality of processing entities; and in response to determining that the second task that is received by the scheduler is a second critical task, scheduling the second critical task for execution in the processing entity that is reserved.
 18. The computer program product of claim 17, the operations further comprising: in response to determining that the second task that is received is a non-critical task, scheduling the second task for execution in a non-reserved processing entity of the plurality of processing entities.
 19. The computer program product of claim 18, wherein the plurality of processing entities comprise a plurality of cores, wherein the reserved processing entity has a clean L1 cache and a clean L2 cache at a time at which the second critical task is scheduled for execution in the reserved processing entity, and wherein the second critical task executes faster by using the clean L1 cache and the clean L2 cache of the reserved processing entity, in comparison to scheduling the second critical task on any non-reserved processing entity of the plurality of processing entities, wherein in non-reserved processing entities the L1 and L2 cache are shared among a plurality of tasks.
 20. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein in response to determining that the plurality of processing entities does not exceed the predetermined threshold number, further performing: in response to determining that the task is a non-critical task, scheduling the task for execution in any of the plurality of processing entities; in response to moving tasks queued on the determined processing entity to other processing entities, in addition to scheduling the critical task for execution on the determined processing entity, also completing currently scheduled tasks on the determined processing entity and avoiding scheduling any new tasks on the determined processing entity; and in response to completion of the critical task in the determined processing entity, returning a scheduler to a mode in which the scheduler schedules non-critical tasks for execution on the determined processing entity.
 21. The computer program product of claim 20, wherein the plurality of processing entities comprise a plurality of cores, and wherein the determined processing entity has a clean L1 cache and a clean L2 cache at some point in time at which the critical task executes in the determined processing entity, wherein the critical task executes faster by using the clean L1 cache and the clean L2 cache of the determined processing entity, in comparison to scheduling the critical task on any other processing entity of the plurality of processing entities, wherein in the other processing entities the L1 cache and the L2 cache are shared among a plurality of tasks.
 22. A storage system, comprising: a first server; and a second server coupled to the first server, wherein the storage system is configurable to perform operations, the operations comprising: determining whether a plurality of processing entities exceeds a predetermined threshold number; in response to determining that the plurality of processing entities exceeds the predetermined threshold number, reserving a processing entity of the plurality of processing entities for exclusive execution of critical tasks; and in response to determining that the plurality of processing entities does not exceed the predetermined threshold number, performing: in response to receiving a task that is a critical task for execution, determining which processing entity of the plurality of processing entities has a least amount of processing remaining to be performed for currently scheduled tasks; and in response to moving tasks queued on the determined processing entity to other processing entities, scheduling the critical task for execution on the determined processing entity.
 23. The storage system of claim 22, wherein it is preferable to prioritize execution of critical tasks over non-critical tasks, wherein in response to the plurality of processing entities exceeding the predetermined threshold number, the processing entity that is reserved is used for the execution of critical tasks, and wherein in response to the plurality of processing entities not exceeding the predetermined threshold number, the determined processing entity is used for the execution of critical tasks.
 24. A server computational device of a dual-server storage system, the server computational device comprising: memory; and a processor coupled to the memory, wherein the processor performs operations, the operations comprising: determining whether a plurality of processing entities exceeds a predetermined threshold number; in response to determining that the plurality of processing entities exceeds the predetermined threshold number, reserving a processing entity of the plurality of processing entities for exclusive execution of critical tasks; and in response to determining that the plurality of processing entities does not exceed the predetermined threshold number, performing: in response to receiving a task that is a critical task for execution, determining which processing entity of the plurality of processing entities has a least amount of processing remaining to be performed for currently scheduled tasks; and in response to moving tasks queued on the determined processing entity to other processing entities, scheduling the critical task for execution on the determined processing entity.
 25. The server computational device of claim 24, wherein it is preferable to prioritize execution of critical tasks over non-critical tasks, wherein in response to the plurality of processing entities exceeding the predetermined threshold number, the processing entity that is reserved is used for the execution of critical tasks, and wherein in response to the plurality of processing entities not exceeding the predetermined threshold number, the determined processing entity is used for the execution of critical tasks. 